In vivo effects of cis- and trans-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) on SV40 chromosomes: differential repair, DNA-protein cross-linking, and inhibition of replication.

The mechanism of action of the antitumor drug cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II), cis-DDP, was investigated by using the approximately 5200 base pair (bp) chromosome of simian virus 40 (SV40) as an in vivo chromatin model. Comparative studies were also carried out with the clinically ineffective isomer trans-DDP. Although 14 times more trans- than cis-DDP in the culture medium is required to inhibit SV40 DNA replication in SV40-infected green monkey CV-1 cells, the two isomers are equally effective at inhibiting replication when equimolar amounts are bound to SV40 DNA in vivo. Since both isomers are transported into CV-1 cells at similar rates, differential uptake cannot account for the greater ability of cis-DDP to inhibit SV40 DNA replication. Rather, this result is explained by the finding that cis-DDP-DNA adducts accumulate continuously over the incubation period, whereas trans-DDP binding to DNA reaches a maximum at 6 h and thereafter decreases dramatically. We suggest that the different accumulation behavior of cis-DDP and trans-DDP on DNA is due to their differential repair in CV-1 cells. A variety of non-histone proteins, including SV40 capsid proteins but virtually no histones, are cross-linked to SV40 DNA in vivo by either cis- or trans-DDP. More DNA-protein cross-links are formed by trans-DDP than by cis-DDP at equivalent amounts of DNA-bound platinum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)